Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Four in 10 U.S. College Students Graduate Without the Complex Reasoning Skills to Manage White-Collar Work ...

Some 'students graduate without the complex reasoning skills'
Four in 10 U.S. college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work, according to the results of a test of nearly 32,000 students.
The test, administered at 169 colleges and universities in 2013 and 2014 and released Thursday, reveals broad variation in the intellectual development of students depending on the type and even location of the school.
Sometimes They Come Labeled ...
On average, students make strides in their ability to reason, but because so many start at such a deficit, many graduate without the ability to read a scatterplot, construct a cohesive argument or identify a logical fallacy. “Even if there is notable growth over four years, many students are starting at such a low point they may still not be proficient at the point of graduation,” said Jessalynn K. James, a program manager at the Council for Aid to Education, which administered the test. The CAE is a New York-based nonprofit.
... Sometimes They Just Need To Open Their Mouth
The exam, known as the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus, measures the intellectual gains made between freshman and senior year. The test doesn’t cover subject-area knowledge; rather, it assesses things like critical thinking, analytical reasoning, document literacy, writing and communication—essentially mimicking the baseline demands for professionals.
The test comes at a time of rising tuition and student debt and a broad rethinking of the value of a college degree in a changing job market. Last month, President Barack Obama spelled out plans for a college-rating system that aims to assess how well schools prepare students for the work world, among other criteria.
Read the rest of the story HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.


No comments: